Featured Audience Ratings

• Jeff "

  
  What's great about Japanese horror, is that no matter what the films they will scare you blind. Now with Suicide Club, they take a whole new concept of what we're afraid of the most and they create something that horrifyingly effective. A very original film compared to all… More
  What's great about Japanese horror, is that no matter what the films they will scare you blind. Now with Suicide Club, they take a whole new concept of what we're afraid of the most and they create something that horrifyingly effective. A very original film compared to all the new reimagining's of classic Horror films, Suicide Club is an original scare fest, and it genuinely scares you and there's plenty of great tense moments to be had within the film. A must watch. Suicide Club is a harrowing nightmare of a film, a truly terrific concept for its plot with a decent cast make this a terrific little known gem in Asian Horror. If you love these types of horror flicks, then give this one a shot, Suicide Club is an intense film from start to finish, one that will keep you interested from beginning to end. This is an entertaining film and one that should appeal to fans of this genre of horror. A fine low Budget film, Suicide Club is a film that has an interesting idea for a film, and the directors clearly have an idea what makes an effective horror film by conveying a new type of fear on their audience. This film is disturbing and chilling, and this is one film that will surely appeal to genre fans. Director Sion Sono is a good director and he has crafted a memorable that will be hard to forget long after you've seen it. A film definitely worth your time, one that has a very chilling concept and is hard to forget.

• Lee ?

  
  Cult Japanese shocker about a new Suicide trend that has started to sweep across Japan affecting it's youth with the police trying to unravel the causes behind it. After a few years of waiting for a UK release I was a little disappointed having finally got to see it. The main… More
  Cult Japanese shocker about a new Suicide trend that has started to sweep across Japan affecting it's youth with the police trying to unravel the causes behind it. After a few years of waiting for a UK release I was a little disappointed having finally got to see it. The main grievance is that there really are no answers and nothing is explained in a conventional way, so it didn't make for very satisfying viewing as at the end I was very confused. A good enough film none-the-less, it has it's memorable moments, mostly from the scenes of suicide which are often bloody (some CGI) and with a very black sense of humour. And the social critique on people who blindly follow the latest trends was also a fun touch. Another viewing of this in the future may go down better with me, still a worthwhile look though.

• familiar s

  
  The mass suicide at the very beginning of the movie is sure to achieve attention of most of the viewers. The movie becomes more thrilling and chilling as it progresses. However, after a point, it turns into a sort of comedy. Also, I didn't like the message/explanation provided… More
  The mass suicide at the very beginning of the movie is sure to achieve attention of most of the viewers. The movie becomes more thrilling and chilling as it progresses. However, after a point, it turns into a sort of comedy. Also, I didn't like the message/explanation provided therein.

• Keiko A

  
  One day in May, 54 Japanese happy and healthy school girls line up along the platform of a Shinjuku subway station and simultaneously throw themselves under a speeding train, in an opening sequence quite unlike any other. Gruesome hardly begins to describe the scene. Thankfully the… More
  One day in May, 54 Japanese happy and healthy school girls line up along the platform of a Shinjuku subway station and simultaneously throw themselves under a speeding train, in an opening sequence quite unlike any other. Gruesome hardly begins to describe the scene. Thankfully the low budget doesn't allow them to show the carnage in too much detail. A little later in the day, two nurses throw themselves out of a hospital window for no particular reason. The police are mystified - the body count is rising and no particular connection between the victims is apparent... no motive or pattern. But a phone call tips them off to a strange website that counts the suicides... before they happen. This raises the question - are they really suicides at all. Suicide club is part horror movie, part detective mystery, part social criticism, part philosophy and mostly very strange. The film is decidedly confrontational; presenting a complicated structure that opens up lots of questions and rarely lets out any answers. Why would these people commit suicide? The film challenges you to look for the answer inside yourself, rather than handing you some neat solution. The movie perhaps suffers from being too obtuse, but not at least from being too conventional. The movie has been compared with battle royal, which is not entirely unreasonable given the themes and overall shock factor. Suicide club is definitely not in the same class, but then it didn't have a director with the talent and experience of Kinji Fukasaku. Like battle royal, the violence and gore is likely to be the thing that gets the movie the most infamy. Not quite as much on display here, but some seriously OTT blood and guts in places. The acting is probably the place where the quality gap is widest between the two movies - Fukasaku gets fantastic performances from his entire cast, but Sono Sion gets average to downright poor performances from his. Various things like the acting keep suicide club from being great work, but it is definitely an interesting and unique one. Plenty of blood and guts and a little bit of food for the mind as well. The message and meaning here isn't sufficiently deep (or clear) for me to recommend the movie to anybody that would have a hard time getting past the shock moments to appreciate it. For those who like a little carnage with their breakfast, though, this is the latest one to watch, and is somewhat recommended. Keiko?s score 88-100

• Megan S

  
  This is only the second asian horror flick i've seen (the first being ringu) and it was at the opposite end of the spectrum from that movie. In the end I kinda liked it, but I didn't like it that much when I was actually watching it, too gross.

• Ginny  

  
  This has to be one of the weirdest movies Ive seen. Unfortunately im in no shape to write movie reviews right now so yall just have to wait for my proper review to come out.

• Pierluigi P

  
  social commentary? gimme a fucking break.

• Adam M

  
  so open-ended it's like a hollow toy, the two group suicide scenes are the interesting parts; the first one is so disgusting it has become iconic

• JY S

  
  <i>Suicide Club</i> is a very Japanese film, which means that many things you see will seem out of the ordinary. This is a norm when it comes to Japan movies and this film does make some sense. You just need to suck it up and pay attention. This is a strength and a… More
  <i>Suicide Club</i> is a very Japanese film, which means that many things you see will seem out of the ordinary. This is a norm when it comes to Japan movies and this film does make some sense. You just need to suck it up and pay attention. This is a strength and a flaw.<p>It is good to have a story that requires the viewer's attention as it will keep him/her involved in the movie, but when you have to really concentrate, it just takes away from the entertainment factor.</p><p>The plot deals with the "Do you believe in yourself" concept. Hence the suicide club. The pace of this film is quite slow, but it does get suspenseful at times. It is also pretty bloody and gory. You better see a lot of blood when 54 school girls jump in front of a train.</p><p>The second half of this film is twisted. There is a group of creepy characters, reminiscent of those in <i>A Clockwork Orange</i>, that show up and even break into song at one point. Speaking of songs, there are a number of them in this film sung by a group of young girls. Depending on which version of the film you watch, they are known as "Dessert", "Desert", and "Dessart". The lyrics to these songs help to explain things throughout the movie.</p><p>As for the ending it is just like many other Japanese films, meaning it is over the top. Most people will be going "What!"</p><p>This movie isn't for everyone, but if you don't mind the dark suspense style of a Japanese mystery, then go ahead and give this a watch. This film did get some recognition at a number of film festivals.

• _kelly .

  
  "So Fucked Up" highlight: the introductory scene

• Tsubaki S

  
  Total waste of time, the film fails as both a satire and in pretending to deliver any type of serious social commentary. I guess many will be curious about it's gore but seriously, there are much creative and focused films that use crude images out there. Don't bother with… More
  Total waste of time, the film fails as both a satire and in pretending to deliver any type of serious social commentary. I guess many will be curious about it's gore but seriously, there are much creative and focused films that use crude images out there. Don't bother with this one. This is a subject that deserves a way better treatment, even more so considering how relevant is in Japanese society. Stupid pointless films like this one add nothing at all, neither to this social problem, or to the film world.

• E.J. B

  
  Overall, the film is a failure to me, but there are some great and terrifying moments that make the film worth watching.

• Steve K

  
  Starts off being what you think it will be, and then eventually takes a turn into something more amusing. Loads of blood.

• Emily A

  
  Oh man. I was in the worst, most foul firey mood (I couldn't get the subtitles to work on Audition), and then 54 smiling Japanese schoolgirls jumped in front of a subway train making an enormous bloody mess and creating mass panic and terror. It was better than prozac. The movie… More
  Oh man. I was in the worst, most foul firey mood (I couldn't get the subtitles to work on Audition), and then 54 smiling Japanese schoolgirls jumped in front of a subway train making an enormous bloody mess and creating mass panic and terror. It was better than prozac. The movie on the whole lags a bit after that, but I guess that's something it couldn't avoid. It kind of degenerates into people in cloth sacks and a Japanese Eddie Izzard, which kind of confused me. The beginning though is what gave this movie such a good rating. Splat!

• Drew S

  
  The movie is interesting and develops a really gripping premise, but there's no payoff at all. The ending doesn't feel like an ending, and the movie blissfully ignores any sort of dramatic technique. The screenplay is a mess. Instead of severing a sense of coherence in… More
  The movie is interesting and develops a really gripping premise, but there's no payoff at all. The ending doesn't feel like an ending, and the movie blissfully ignores any sort of dramatic technique. The screenplay is a mess. Instead of severing a sense of coherence in trying to be 'artistic' or 'deep', the movie could have done both simply with a more linear and clear narrative. Totally agree with the below user about Mail Me, by the way.

• Luke B

  
  It begins with hand-held camera techniques and a voyeuristic documentary look at the people at a Japanese subway station. Then 54 school girls jump in front of a train, heads explode, blood gushes everywhere and arms get caught in the wheels. It was this premise and my love for… More
  It begins with hand-held camera techniques and a voyeuristic documentary look at the people at a Japanese subway station. Then 54 school girls jump in front of a train, heads explode, blood gushes everywhere and arms get caught in the wheels. It was this premise and my love for "Battle Royale" that got me to watch this film and I am far from disappointed. There are no real similarities with "Battle Royale" apart from some fantastic gory moments, that are so over the top they are of course laced with a dark and sadistic sense of humour. I couldn't help but burst into hysterics when a number of school children chuck themselves off a building only to explode like water balloons. It's hard to describe what is going on in the film, as it really lacks focus, and seems like a novel with many characters, and the screenwriter has tried to cram them all in. The film is also very metaphorical, and so surreal scenes may seem out of place and confuse many. It has a lesson to teach, but the audience must take part in the experience to learn it. The film focuses on its gore as its selling point, and rightly so. The visuals are what I really love, with a low budget, eerie documentary feel to them, it really creeps you out. A comment on pop obsessed youths, being happy with who you are, whilst chucking in some dark humour and plenty of gore.

• Horrific R

  
  A disturbing film, and one that touches on a sensitive subject, especially for Japan given their suicide demographics... I was personally irked by the movie at times. The suspense in this film was executed well, and the juxtaposed concept of a hip pop band encouraging suicide was… More
  A disturbing film, and one that touches on a sensitive subject, especially for Japan given their suicide demographics... I was personally irked by the movie at times. The suspense in this film was executed well, and the juxtaposed concept of a hip pop band encouraging suicide was interesting. There were some loose ends that failed to be tied, and while I was interested with the film throughout, I was dissatisfied with the ending. There might have been something I missed, but I'm pretty certain that all in all this movie wasn't good at - or interested in - providing a solid explanation.

• Lesley N

  
  Japanese thriller horror drama from maverick director Sion Sono. I thought the first half an hour ... Japanese schoolgirls committing mass suicide on what appears to be a whim .... was fantastic, if very messy and blood-splattery. A neat statement on peer pressure and group identity… More
  Japanese thriller horror drama from maverick director Sion Sono. I thought the first half an hour ... Japanese schoolgirls committing mass suicide on what appears to be a whim .... was fantastic, if very messy and blood-splattery. A neat statement on peer pressure and group identity and the way people will follow, sheeplike, the latest craze no matter how crazy it is. And then the film started trying to explain what was happening and why and whose fault it is, and there was a tweenie pop band and Eddie Izzard in a bowling alley and then I got lost. If it was talking about the alienation of the younger generation, then PULSE did it better, and if it was talking about the evils of the older generation and the media.... again..., then zzzzzz.. Fantastic start though <img src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_ZpBybuKcmcs/S23aNzN-h9I/AAAAAAAAARk/AQjRQeLxzhA/s320/suicide-club-subway-school-children.jpg">

• Daniel P

  
  According to the DVD jacket, <I>Suicide Club</I> is a "wicked social critique" and "a study of contemporary morality" that is "darkly comic". Maybe I missed something, but to me any social critique was far too unsubtle and too frequently… More
  According to the DVD jacket, <I>Suicide Club</I> is a "wicked social critique" and "a study of contemporary morality" that is "darkly comic". Maybe I missed something, but to me any social critique was far too unsubtle and too frequently forgotten to be effective, and the fact that nothing really makes sense hardly makes it a study of contemporary morality. As for being darkly comic? Try hideously all over the shop; the film simply can't decide what it is and therefore has very little identity. All that aside, I did 'enjoy' (endure) much of the film. <p>The infamous opening mass-suicide by subway train was successfully set-up but the actual execution was shoddy (think the car scene in <I>Hostel</I>, all blood but nothing tangible or believable). Much more successful is a later scene at a school, where pupils on a roof garden discussing the wave of suicides egg each other on to top the record. What starts out as a joke escalates to a group holding hands in a chain and counting to three, whereupon, they promise each other, they'll jump to their deaths from the roof. It's very cleverly edited and the aftermath, where some have jumped and some haven't, those remaining shaken to the core, left me reeling. There are other successful sequences and, occasionally, some biting humor, though nothing is ever quite as memorable as that scene. Unfortunately, the film almost completely derails one hour in, with a ridiculous and horribly prolonged red-herring kidnap scene involving a lip-synching transvestite, casual rape and the bludgeoning of concealed pets that offers nothing and seems to be shoe-horned in, in an effort to 1) stretch out the running time, and 2) give Japanese 'superstar' Rolly a dreadful cameo appearance. <p>Thankfully, and eventually, things get slightly back on track for the conclusion and explanation, which seems to suggest that a subliminal message has been behind the deaths, but still fails to explain the vast majority of what gone on before. Maybe some stuff got lost in translation, or else I was too pissed off to examine the metaphors (lots of talk about having a connection to yourself, and some weird stuff which seemed to involve some sort of makeshift arc) but I'm still lost as to what writer/director Sion Sono was trying to convey. Still, it looks good, has some occasionally very effective moments and is definitely one of a kind. Oh, and the lead girl (who gets to be the heroine, sort of) is kinda cute.

• Curt C

  
  So, does it get a pass because it's full of new ideas and very unique, and kept me interested throughout? Hard to say. I did some research afterwards and "understand" the philosophy in this a lot better now. That doesn't mean I enjoyed it, nor do I necessarily… More
  So, does it get a pass because it's full of new ideas and very unique, and kept me interested throughout? Hard to say. I did some research afterwards and "understand" the philosophy in this a lot better now. That doesn't mean I enjoyed it, nor do I necessarily feel enriched by watching it, but I do feel educated. Once I read up on it, I wanted to like it a lot more than I did ... but when the guy plays a rock song on his guitar as his buddy rapes and kills a teen I started thinking there had to be a better way to get the message across than this. As you can tell, I'm quite conflicted by this film. You won't get the full experience out of this without a _lot_ of legwork afterwards.

Read all 20 featured audience ratings